History of Christianity

• Christian history begins with Jesus of

Nazareth, a Jew who was born in a small
corner of the Roman Empire.

• Little is known of his early life, but around

the age of 30, Jesus was baptized by John
the Baptist and had a vision in which he
received the blessing of God.
• After this event, he began a ministry of teaching,
healing, and miracle-working. He spoke of the
"kingdom of God," condemned religious
hypocrites and interpreted the Mosaic law in new
ways.
• He spoke before crowds of people, but also
chose 12 disciples whom he taught privately.
They eagerly followed him, believing him to be
the long-awaited Messiah who would usher in
the kingdom of God on earth.
• After just a few years, however,
opposition mounted against
Jesus, and he was ultimately
executed by crucifixion by the
Romans.
• Most of Jesus' followers
scattered, dismayed at such an
unexpected outcome.
• But three days later, women who
went to anoint his body reported
that the tomb was empty and an
angel told them Jesus had risen
from the dead.
• The disciples were initially
sceptical, but later came to
believe. They reported that Jesus
appeared to them on several
occasions and then ascended
into heaven before their eyes.
• The remainder of the first
century AD saw the number
of Jesus' followers, who
were soon called
"Christians," grow rapidly.

• Instrumental in the spread

of Christianity was a man
named Paul, a zealous Jew
who had persecuted
Christians, then converted
to the faith after
experiencing a vision of the
risen Jesus.
• Taking advantage of the extensive system of Roman
roads and the time of peace, Paul went on numerous
missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire. He
started churches, then wrote letters back to them to offer
further counsel and encouragement. Many of these
letters would become part of the Christian scriptures, the
“New Testament."
• In the second and third centuries AD, Christians
struggled with persecution from outside the church and
doctrinal debates from within the church.
• Christian leaders, who are now called the "church fathers,"
wrote defences of the false claims made against Christians
(apologetics) as well as arguments against false teachings
spreading within the church (polemics).
•Doctrines were explored, developed, and solidified, the canon of
the New Testament was formed, and the notion of "apostolic
succession" established a system of authority to guard against
wrong interpretations of Christian teachings.
• A major turning
point in Christian
history came in the
early 4th century
AD, when the
Roman Emperor
Constantine
converted to
Christianity.
The Christian religion became legal, persecution ceased, and thousands of
pagans now found it convenient to convert to the emperor's faith.

• Allied with the

Roman Empire,
Christianity
gradually rose
in power and
hierarchy until
it became the
"Christendom"
that would
encompass the
entire western
world in the
Middle Ages
and
Renaissance.
• Emperor Constantine hoped Christianity would be the
uniting force of his empire.

• However, there were still disputes over the “nature” of

Jesus. God or less than God but more than Man.
• In 325 AD, Constantine called the Council of Nicea so
that the bishops could work out their differences. They
declared the Son (Christ) to be of "one substance" with
the Father.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
the Father, the Almighty, he suffered death and was buried.
maker of heaven and earth, On the third day he rose again
of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus in accordance with the Scriptures;
Christ, he ascended into heaven
the only Son of God, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
eternally begotten of the Father, He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
God from God, light from light, and his kingdom will have no end.
true God from true God, We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
begotten, not made, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
of one Being with the Father; who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
through him all things were made. who has spoken through the prophets.
For us and for our salvation We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
he came down from heaven, We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and became truly human. and the life of the world to come. Amen.
• In the meantime, the considerable religious, cultural, and
political differences between the Eastern and Western
churches were becoming increasingly apparent.

• Religiously, the two parts of Christendom had different

views on topics such as the use of icons, the nature of
the Holy Spirit, and the date on which Easter should be
celebrated.
• Culturally, the Greek East has always tended to be more
philosophical and abstract in its thinking, while the Latin
West tended toward a more pragmatic and legal-minded
approach.

• The political aspects of the split began with the Emperor

Constantine, who moved the capital of the Roman
Empire from Rome to Constantinople (in modern Turkey).
Upon his death, the empire was divided between his two
sons, one of whom ruled the western half of the empire
from Rome while the other ruled the eastern region from
Constantinople.
• These various factors finally
came to a head in 1054 AD,
when Pope Leo IX
excommunicated the patriarch
of Constantinople, the leader
of the Eastern church. The
Patriarch condemned the
Pope in return, and the
Christian church has been
officially divided into West
(“Roman Catholic") and East
(“Greek Orthodox") ever
since.
• In the 1400s, some western Christians began to publicly
challenge aspects of the church.

• They spoke against the abuse of authority and

corruption in Christian leadership. They called for a
return to the gospel and a stripping off of traditions and
customs like purgatory, the cult of the saints and relics,
and the withholding of the communion wine from non-
clergy.

• They began to translate the Bible - then available only in

Latin - into the common languages of the people.
• However, these early
reformers did not have
widespread success,
and most were
executed for their
teachings. Legend has
it that when Jan Hus, a
Czech reformer whose
surname means
"goose," was burned at
the stake in 1415, he
called out: "Today you
roast a goose, but in
100 years, a swan will
sing!"
• In 1517, a German monk named Martin
Luther (who bore little resemblance to
a swan) posted 97 complaints against
the practice of selling indulgences on
a church door.

• He had experienced a personal

conversion to the doctrine of
justification by faith alone, and also
shared many of the ideas of those
early reformers.
• Growing German nationalism and the invention of the
printing press ensured that Luther would have greater
protection than his predecessors and his teachings
would be spread quickly.
• He was excommunicated and barely escaped with his
life on more than one occasion, but Luther lived out his
life spreading the Reformation, and died a natural death.
• His ideas had
already spread
throughout
Germany, and
similar reforming
movements sprung
up in England and
Switzerland. Soon
much of Europe was
embroiled in a civil
war, with Protestant
nationalists fighting
Catholic
imperialists for
religious and
political freedom.
• In the 17th century, Christians of
many ideologies embarked on
the hazardous journey across
the Atlantic, to the promise of
religious freedom and economic
prosperity in the New World.

• Quakers came to Pennsylvania,

Catholics to Maryland, and
Dutch Reformed to New York.
Later came Swedish Lutherans
and French Huguenots, English
Baptists and Scottish
Presbyterians.

• With the exception of some

Puritan communities, there was
no attempt to impose religious
uniformity in America.
• Today, Christianity is the largest world religion, with
about 2 billion adherents. It is the majority religion of
Europe and the Americas, and there are churches in
almost every nation in the world.
• There are perhaps thousands of Christian
denominations, all of whom believe in the basic
doctrines established at the Council of Nicea but differ in
other matters of doctrine and practice. In recent years,
there has been a growing movement among these
denominations to work together in unity for the good of
the world. In 1948, the World Council of Churches was
founded to that end.
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